Hutaree militia member believed bogus chain email

HUTAREE MILITIA MEMBER BELIEVED BOGUS CHAIN EMAIL…. Nine members of a Christian militia group were taken into federal custody this week, based on evidence that the group was poised to launch a deadly plot. One of the nine was apparently enraged by a bogus claim she received a right-wing chain email. (via Justin Elliott)

A member of the Hutaree militia charged with federal crimes was upset because she thought that President Barack Obama had signed into law this month a bill that would spend $20 billion to help the terrorist group Hamas settle in the U.S.

There was never any such legislation, but Tina Stone believed it was the truth, according to her Facebook account.

Not quite two weeks ago, the woman posted to Facebook, lamenting the fact that H.B. 1388 passed. She wrote, “I’m peeved,,, when people in this country is getting kicked out of there homes everyday and our government passes a bill to spend more then 20 billion dollars to bring Hamas here and supplies them with food and homes that just wrong.” [grammatical errors in the original]

Soon after, she added, “I’m so stressed I could KILL someone!!!!!!!”

For the record, H.B. 1388 was a national service bill, expanding AmeriCorps. It included no money for Hamas.

Now, Tina Stone was already part of a radical group long before she received this silly email with absurd claims. But it didn’t help.

It also leads me to wonder just how much better off our collective national intelligence would be if ridiculous right-wing chain emails didn’t exist.